Scientists are taking a new look at hallucinogens, which became taboo among regulators after enthusiasts like Timothy Leary promoted them in the 1960s with the slogan “Turn on, tune in, drop out.” Now, using rigorous protocols and safeguards, scientists have won permission to study once again the drugs’ potential for treating mental problems and illuminating the nature of consciousness.
The 1908 Tunguska airburst from a small asteroid has generally been estimated to have had an energy of 10-15 megatons. The corresponding size for a rocky impactor is roughly 60 meters in diameter. Mark Boslough of Sandia Laboratory, however, has generated new supercomputer simulations that suggest a smaller Tunguska explosion. In part his models require less energy in the explosion because he includes the substantial downward momentum of the rocky impactor, rather then modeling it as a stationary explosion. If this revision (down to an estimated energy of 3-5 megatons, and a corresponding diameter perhaps as low as 40 m) is correct, the expected frequency of such impacts changes, from once in a couple of millennia to once in a few hundred years. If smaller impactors can do the damage previously associated with larger ones, of course, the total hazard from such impacts is increased. Below is a press release from Sandia and a newspaper article discussing this new work.
News Article: Tunguska Revision, and a Possible NEA Impact on Mars
My, we have come a long way. I liked this photo because it made me imagine the roar of laughter that would come from this happy crowd ... if I could sneak back into the moment and inform them that young Barack might just someday become the Leader of the Free World. Truly, change that we can believe in.
I found this nice freebie online. Click the picture to watch it in its entirety over at Google Videos.
